On November 26th and 27th, 2022, ASAF's brand new elected board met in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, for its first working meeting.

This board meeting was mainly devoted to taking stock of the progress made by ASAF since its creation, to establishing the prospects for the future functioning of ASAF and to establishing the annual work plan of ASAF for 2023.

On the first day, the Service Providers took stock of ASAF's journey, which has been carried out from 2018 to 2022. Key takeaways are: 2019 regional workshops, ASAF logo design, AGF 2021, AGF 2022, RoP vote, ASAF first board election and launch pilot projects.

During this day, Fiorella PEROTTO and Hélène BANEGAS from the European Commission (EC) recalled the context of EU support to ASAF, the objectives of this support which is essentially the strengthening and integrating the African continent's higher education system, strengthening EU and AU cooperation through education and promoting EU and AU scholarships. A reminder was also made on the structuring of the relationship between ASAF and the EU, which goes from the Commission of the European Union through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), then the service providers, and finally the alumni networks, including ASAF.

Board members then made a presentation each, on the past activities of their predecessors in the IB, what they have already done since their elections and what they plan to do for their terms.

The last session of this day focused on the structuring of ASAF at the national level, the organization and relaunch of the Task Forces and the organization of the committees headed by the two VPs, the Regional Integration and Cooperation Committee and the Mobility, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Two focus groups were set up for the proposed solution. During the second and last day of this meeting, the board discussed the internal structuring of ASAF, with a focus on the structuring at the national level.

The proposals of the working groups devoted to this subject the day before were shared with the plenary for adoption.

These include a hierarchical structure that links the co-ambassadors to the regional coordinators and then to the VP in charge of regional cooperation and integration.

The co-ambassadors will also be a relay point at the national level for the Mobility, Diversity and Inclusion program committee.

For a dynamic and effective national structure, four (4) ASAF members will be elected in each country to support the two Co-ambassadors in their tasks. The co-ambassadors will be responsible for the implementation of ASAF's annual plans at the national level, they are also in charge of establishing partnerships with governments, universities and others in their countries. All co-ambassadors will be supported by the various Task Forces whenever necessary.

The last session of this day was devoted to planning for the year 2023.

Based on the different discussions between the different partners, the EU commission and the SPs, the board has proposed different activities that cover the whole year 2023. This annual work plan will be submitted to the EU commission on December 15 at the latest for validation and/or suggestion.

The validated plan will be presented to the working body (committees, working groups, Task Forces, and co-ambassadors) in January and to the entire ASAF community in February.

This first working meeting of the Board ended with a dinner with members of the ASAF community in Rwanda in the presence of the co-ambassador of ASAF in Rwanda Julius. This dinner was an opportunity for the new board to discuss directly with the members of this beautiful community of Rwanda and to invite them to become more involved in the activities of ASAF, particularly through the working groups and the Task Forces.

 

Alexandre Mahougnon ZOUMMAN and Imane BENRABIAA

edited by the Service Provider 

Senegal, Dakar, 06/12/2022